-I wonder if the presidents are going to be freaked out by modern technology, said Emmit.
-Yeah, we should take them to a 3-D movie, joked Seph.
-3-D is in the past. Now 4-D movies are the future, said Mitch.
-A 4-D movie would break the realm of time. Ends as soon as it begins.
-What?
Seph explained that a 4-D movie would be an entire three-hour story compressed into a single instant. And you’d still feel all the emotions. This confused Mitch, who originated the concept.
-You’d feel sad or happy and not know why?
-Yeah.
-And have a sore ass from sitting?
-I guess so, but it wouldn’t take so long.
-Kind of cuts down on make-out time, doesn’t it?
-Mitch, you’re an idiot.
-A 4-D idiot?
-Yes.
-Finally, the train station, said Emmit.
The three guys parked Seph’s car and walked up to the train station entrance, unsure of who they were looking for. But before long, Emmit stopped the guys and pointed to a large man with a bushy white beard on a nearby bench alternating his attention between the train schedule and a map. This man was maybe in his upper sixties and kind of looked like Santa Clause had St. Nick sold life insurance instead of giving away children’s presents.
Seph wasn’t convinced though. Not until he saw the man pull out a pocket watch. Had the man used anything but a cell phone to check the time, Seph would have been convinced; a pocket watch was overkill. Now he didn’t expect the pocket watch to work--being antique technology, or even a display prop--but apparently that’s just how time traveling worked this time.
-Are you the president of the United States?
-You are the first person to approach me and not ask for spare change--whatever that means.
-Not real surprised. I can help you though. What is your name?
-President Benjamin Harrison.
-Of course.
Harrison was appropriately suspicious of these young fellows who claimed ability to help him. The last time he took people’s help he ended up president of the United States. But when Harrison came into power, he found that the party managers had taken it all to themselves. He couldn’t name his own cabinet because they had sold out every place to pay for “election expenses”.
However, Harrison was pretty easy to convince he was in the future. There was enough electricity in the train station and surrounding stores that he had picked up on that rather quickly. He was also relieved that he didn’t have to personally turn on any electric lights, as he knew they were known to cause incredible shocks and even death. Harrison’s first question about the future though caught everybody off guard. Has polio been cured?
-No, said Mitch, we still have plenty of polio shirts.
-Are you talking about polo shirts, Mitch?
-What?
-Yes, polio has been cured, Seph explained. Polo shirts are popular.
-Polo is a disease?
-Yes.
-No. It’s not. Mitch, please, just go over there.
Mitch, frustrated that he couldn’t articulate what he was thinking, walked away from the train station and across the street. But even Mitch didn’t know why he got confused so often so stopped worrying about it. Fortunately people on the other side of road would understand Mitch; he was going to the homeless shelter.
When Mitch had left, Harrison asked Emmit how they knew he would be at the train station. Emmit then had to admit they didn’t know Harrison specifically would be at the train station. They didn’t know who was going to be anywhere. Why? Because they didn’t really know much about any of the missing presidents. People in modern day America had forty some presidents to keep track of--that was simply too many. Also there are a lot of senators and stuff.
-So there’s no reason for me to go to Washington, D.C.?
-No, not really. Most people won’t believe you.
-Or think you are an actor.
-And if they did believe you, they would be considered crazy themselves.
-Do you boys think you’re crazy?
-A little bit, but we’re not dangerous.
-Is the future a better place than my own time?
-Probably.
-So there’s really no reason to go back to my time; the world will do just fine.
Seph and Emmit looked at each other; unsure of what Harrison meant. They didn’t know he was arguably the least popular man ever elected president. Never the first choice for anybody and just one spot above the last choice for enough: he won the presidential election without the majority of votes, or even the most votes. Sometimes that’s how the system had to work though. Or at least that’s what Harrison had told himself every night for the last year.
The situation seemed unusually cruel to Harrison. Two young men from the future were telling him he was unwanted and had to go back to a time they knew he was unwanted in. He was a man without a time. He decided to appeal to the lads’ emotions before being arrested, or whatever it is they planned on doing to him. But before he could say anything, Seph was psychologically driven away by a phone ring. Why would Lily be calling?
From across town and on Lily’s phone, Blair told Seph that the girls had James Polk but weren’t heading to the museum. Seph, too distracted to offer better advice, told Blair about his own current situation. Harrison was too unmotivated to do anything.
Meanwhile Emmit followed Harrison as the round man walked up and down the mostly silent train station terminal. Emmit knew who was calling Seph. Perhaps because he knew Harrison was short-lived for this world, Emmit decided to confide in him. Harrison, always seeing himself as a confidant, allowed Emmit to talk uninterrupted.
Harrison may have felt rejected by millions of Americans, but so did Emmit. Millions of Americans stopped caring about Emmit and his friends for reasons the old man couldn’t understand in over a hundred years. But more painfully, one American had stopped caring about Emmit. Harrison asked who this American was, but Emmit wasn’t willing to go that far. Instead he elaborated that she was waiting on Seph or himself to sent Harrison back to his own time.
At this, Harrison realized what Emmit was asking and agreed. He would go back to his own time, give up all the wonders and terrors to be discovered in this new world so that Emmit could maybe, just maybe, win back the affection of the girl he cared so much about. Maybe Harrison wouldn’t become popular in the future for his limited 21st century existence, or in his own time for the brief absence, but at least one American would know, would feel, that President Benjamin Harrison made a positive difference in his life--or at least tried to.
Seph got off the phone and was startled to discover that Harrison no longer wanted to do nothing or sneak aboard the next train heading for Washington, D.C. but rather wanted to be sent back to his own time. Harrison seemed so logical in Seph’s eyes that he hoped all of the remaining presidents would be this easy to convince.
The three of them got into Seph’s car, with Harrison incessantly marveling at the contraption. Seph suspected that Tyler hadn’t cared so much for cars because the concept was so beyond him; whereas Harrison had a vague idea of horse-less carriages and thus understood enough to question everything possible. This would result in a very long car ride back to the museum. Despite, or possibly because of, the annoying questions and observations, neither Seph nor Emmit remembered they had originally traveled with Mitch.
Mitch was left at the homeless shelter but was not alone. And had Mitch been a former president, he still wouldn’t have been alone.
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